What an adventure this week with being told to go Gluten- and Dairy-Free. What a major shock to my mentality! So far I’m doing good. I’m “easing over to gluten-free” as the doctor said to, and things aren’t too bad. I eat less grain products than I thought, but I will end up hitting some road blocks I’m sure. I did some recon at the grocery stores that I frequent to see what they have for gluten- and dairy-free items. Not surprisingly, Copp’s grocery in Madison had many more selections than did the Piggly Wiggly on my route home. I got myself some corn tortilla chips, some caramel corn rice cakes, some soy chips and two versions of G & F free cookies. I also was told about some Vegan “butter” from Earth Balance. I tried that on some wheat toast (remember… ease into G-free) Saturday morning and it was pretty decent.

Saturday night I tried G & F free “cookies and milk” with Almond Milk and some chocolate sandwich cookies that are G & F free. They were different, but still tasty – a more “sandy” texture to the cookies, but I can handle that.

Beyond that, I worked and both jobs, made a nice chunk of tip money and determined that the only things I can’t eat at Job #2 are the bread, the macaroni & cheese and cheese… (I love cheese.) The rest of the menu is G & F free – even the dry rub on meats because that’s mixed from the spices right in the kitchen. No blends that have additional gluten (remember how I said Gluten is added to damn near everything?).

My weekend has been working at Job #2, working around the house, taking Little Cat to her annual vet visit, and sleep. DH has been off with the guys for a Bachelor Party weekend for our dear friend, B, who is getting married in October. They were having their party in the same place that I attended the Bachelorette Party back in July, and I have a feeling I’m going to be faced with a tired DH when he returns today.

Now that we’re caught up with my life this past week, to the search terms!

This weeks winner for top search term is: baling hay. Tis the season and all that jazz. I’m curious to know if it’s country folk looking up the term or non-country folk.

This weeks Honorable Mention goes to…. wait for it.… are you ready? Okay, Honorable Mention goes to: porno movies croatian barbariga! Yeah. I’m not kidding. I saw this on the list and quite literally laughed out loud and then said aloud, “What the hell?!” Barbariga is a little, touristy seaside village. Okay, I’m not that naive, some vacationer is probably filming amateur porn in one of the rentals. Now I might have to go do a search for that!

Now that I’m shaking my head in wonderment…. again… let’s get to the facts, Jack!

Random Facts 226 – 232

Random Fact #226 –I don’t like climbing ladders.

That’s right, I’m a chicken when it comes to ladders. Even little 2-step ladders leave my knees a bit shaky. I’m actually pretty annoyed at this as I can sit on a rocky overhang, hundreds of feet falling away below me, and don’t feel scared at all after the initial butterflies.

Random Fact #227 – I can accept Sarcasm at times. Snarkiness I cannot.

What’s the difference? Snarkiness is mean-spirited. It’s meant to make a person feel bad about themself for a variety of “infractions”. Sarcasm can be snarky, but having come from a really sarcastic family, sarcasm isn’t meant to cause emotional wounds.

Random Fact #228 –I’m an ordained minister from the Universal Life Church.

Did this on a whim in college. Everyone was doing it… so I did, too. I signed up online and actually have the certificate that was printed out.

Random Fact #229 – I collect seasons of The Simpsons on DVD.

I’ve been collecting The Simpsons for about 1o years and have seasons 1-9 (I think). I break them out and do marathons once in a while.

Random Fact #230 –I collect seasons of Family Guy on DVD.

I started to collect Family Guy a few years ago – I love how it makes me mindlessly laugh.

We went to the fire station on a field trip and they were cramming all of us in turn up into the cab of the fire truck. I was stuffed up there with a few other kids and they flipped on the siren; it was so loud that I held my ears and cried. I was the only one who did that.

Random Fact #232 – I have a collection of shot glasses.

I have stopped collecting them for the most part. Seems that a lot of the glasses are too plain jane or just “cheesey”. Not my thing.

Thanks for tuning in for another installment of Sunday Search Terms and Project 365!

The Gluten free is not easy or cheap. i try to do as much as I can and believe me my colon tells me when I’m not doing a good job. There are some good recipes and blogs on Pinterest if you need to try something different.
Ladders..ugh..I can go up, but I better like it up there cause I can’t get down…lol

I think what it’s going to come down to is a balance between the Paleo & Wheat Belly diets with occasional gluten-free treats. I love to bake, but don’t often eat much of what I DO bake. I found out that Kind Snacks “Kind Bars” are G & F free – basically nuts and some binding sugary syrup. Yesterday, with all the veggies I was eating (cauliflower with breakfast, cole slaw for lunch and snack, kale and tomatoes with dinner), I wasn’t ravenous at each mealtime. I started off with the same breakfast this morning that I had yesterday since it seemed to work well… and it’s helping me “ease into” G-free.

Being Dairy-free in the Dairy State, though? Ugh. I bought myself Lactaid for when I indulge in one of my favorite cheeses – Manchego.

Indubitably! I have on average 6 varieties of cheese in my fridge on any given day… I have a bag of cheese curds STARING at me from the top shelf. Romano, parmesan, cheddar, American (for grilled cheese), manchego, smoked provolone and a lovely hard sheep cheese from Croatia right now… that’s 8 varieties currently. *sigh* 😉